what is the battery of choice these days? are the optimas still crap or have they improved their batteries? exide orbital still highly recomended? what is the taste of the forum these days??? and yes i know i'm but i need one now for the z and i don't want to spend a bunch of money on crap. i would like the yellow top but if they are still dieing early then i will have to settle on something else. thanks

 

:beatdeadh orse::beat deadhorse: :beatdeadh orse::beat deadhorse: :beatdeadh orse::beat deadhorse: :beatdeadh orse::beat deadhorse: :beatdeadh orse:

 

Duracell or Energizer is your best bet

 

Here... try this: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site%3Ahttp%3A%...+which+battery

I guess I'll put in my vote for die hard platinum. You want a battery with at least 700 CCA and 110 Reserve Capacity. I think most of these batteries are made by one of the same three companies anyway...

 

After bad luck with 2 or 3 optima red tops (even had one leak!), went with AC Delco Professional series battery.

 

I just replaced a Red Top (after 5 or 6 years of use) with another one and couldn't be happier.

Definitely though! If you search, there is a lot of reading on the subject

 

Advance Auto Parts Gold in mine for the last 2 years

 

Just buy a Walmart "MAXX".....only you will know, and its cheap and last long and has a good guarantee.

 

I just bought a yellow top 34/78 deep cycle battery w/ 750A @ 0* or 870A @ 32* Amp cranking amps and 120 min reserve capacity. I had a red top since 2004 and only replaced it because side post was stripped out. Had no issues with it. BTW, Advance Auto may still have the 25% off all batteries sale. Regardless of what you choose, I'd go to Advance to get the 25% off if the sale is still current.
Mike C

 

as i stated i know that it is. but when i searched everything i found was from around 2005 and i was wanting some more up to date info

 

Click on the link I posted above... All of the results on the first page are newer than 05. Some are 2011 threads. Also, you can restrict the search function in this forum to only search for recent threads...

 

Best advise really.

Just drive it and most any battery will be fine.

 

Best bangs-for-the-bucks:

Costco Kirkland: $60
Walmart MAXX: $80

Can't go wrong, either: AC Delco Professional, Bosch

Best performance at any price and weight: Sears Platinum (weighs a LOT)

 

I've had Optima Red Tops in both of the C5's I've and they've been great.

 

Costco / Kirkland $68

36 month free replacement

100 month pro-rated warranty

 

IMHO, the problem with this type of thread is that you just get a lot of people posting up what they are running with really no reason as to why it is a better choice than others. The type of battery you should get for a daily driver getting 15K miles a year is very different from your ideal battery if your car is a garage queen driven a couple of days a month.

I'm not an expert on car batteries. I've done enough research to be an informed buyer and I've read a couple of threads on here where some very knowledgable people have suggested that you purchase a battery with at least 700 CCA and 110 Reserve Capacity. While the choices of batteries on the market may have changed some over the past five years, the electrical system in your C5 likely has not. Do a little research on here and figure out the minimum specs a battery going into a C5 should have and go from there. Once you know that and have narrowed the field significantly, factors such as price and warranty should come into play.

I disagree with the posts that say just run any battery that fits and you'll be fine. C5's are battery killers in stock form and if you've done any mods that require additional juice you're even harder on it. Also, as I stated above, the way you use your car plays a role in the battery you should choose. Most brands of car batteries are made by the same three companies so don't go by brand alone. Look at some specs and do some research. Here's a couple of good articles to get you going:

http://www.helium.com/items/230781-h...ht-car-battery

http://live-n-learn.hubpages.com/hub...attery---Guide

If you do your own research and make a decision based on the specifications and capabilities of the product you're buying as opposed to just polling people to see who is running what, the knowledge you gain will serve you for a long time. And the next time somebody asks what battery they should get for their car you'll be able to comment in terms of vehicle requirements and battery specifications instead of "I heard X brand is supposed to be really good for cheap"

If you want to make sure you're making a good choice after you've selected one this forum has some VERY knowledgable people that would probably chime in. The question "which battery is best?" is impossible to answer accurately without knowing how you will use your car.

 

I have my second Optima Red Top sitting on the bench. Been there for about six months.

First was was replace after two years of use. I ran it completely dead by leaving the key on in the garage for a week. It never fully recovered and was diagnosed by Advance Auto as having a bad cell. Ok, they made good on the warranty and replaced it.

Second one will not hold a charge enough to keep all the memory settings. Advance said nothing is wrong with it but it needs charged. They tested my alternator and said it was fine. Told me I had a drain when shutting the car off. I told them the BCM hadn't went to speep yet. They did care for that answer. The deal is, it will start the car fine and the CCA test 800 or so, but the voltage, after one start is 12.0v to 12.1v. It drops below 9v on restarts after the first time right after a charge. Thier computer said I needed to charge it but the alternator tested fine. I got tired of arguing with them and left. It'll go in my next 383 SBC project I suppose since I don't have any memory to store on a '72 Nova.

So, long story short.... I'll never buy another Optima Red Top even after reading many success stories on here. It can't take being ran down once and recover and don't have enough voltage after being fully charged and one restart. I don't get it but I'm done with them.

So, read on..... you'll get plenty of opinions, and plenty of dead horses too!

 

The 8+ year old Kirkland in the Chevy Silverado, that I passed down to my son last year, is still going strong!

The Kirkland battery in the Vette is also nearly 6 years old.

 

I would also recommend AC Delco Professional. It has a 50 month, FREE replacement warranty, and pro-rated up to 72 months.
I just had to replace one that went 48 months until the Texas heat finally killed it. Took it to the local parts house and they gave me a new one Free since it was still within the 50 months.
Can't beat that.

 

I have a collection of dead red top Optima's sitting on the side of my house from a few different cars. Only one of the red tops I had lasted more than 5 years. In all fairness, these were mostly from hot rod cars and project cars I had sitting around that never got regular usage. Most of them only had 2 years on them.

I currently have an AC-Delco professional series that has been holding up pretty well, but I went to the consumer report page just to peek at what they thought.

These rated well: Sears Die Hard Gold, Everlast Maxx, Duralast Gold. There many more on the list, but it's a long list.

If you don't drive the car a lot, run a battery saver to keep it charged up.